


Let me shoulder your burdens

by Byedletre



Series: My light, my heart [1]
Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: F/F, Female My Unit | Byleth, Fire Emblem: Three Houses Black Eagles Route, Fluff, Holding Hands, Humor, Mild Hurt/Comfort, One Shot, Pre-Relationship, Pre-Timeskip | Academy Phase (Fire Emblem: Three Houses), Rated G for "Graphic Depictions Of Hand-Holding"
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-25
Updated: 2020-07-25
Packaged: 2021-03-06 00:14:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,750
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25514125
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Byedletre/pseuds/Byedletre
Summary: “Edelgard.”She turns from the railing and the view of mountains, and meets Byleth’s gaze. “My teacher,” she begins, her face lighting up in a wide smile. “May I help you?”Byleth gets an idea from Sothis.
Relationships: Edelgard von Hresvelg & My Unit | Byleth, Edelgard von Hresvelg/My Unit | Byleth, My Unit | Byleth & Sothis
Series: My light, my heart [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1984019
Comments: 28
Kudos: 239





	Let me shoulder your burdens

**Author's Note:**

> This takes place in an alternate universe where Byleth's classroom has a proper desk, instead of the solid wooden cuboid thing it normally has.

“YEEEAAAAAH! WOOOOOOO!”

_“Caspar is riding on Petra’s shoulders,”_ Byleth observes.

_“Indeed, he is quite the energetic one,”_ Sothis responds. _“I’m surprised they haven’t injured themselves yet.”_

Byleth’s view of the action is somewhat obscured—she sits at her desk in the otherwise empty Black Eagles classroom, grading reports on the mock battle. Despite the poor view, the students occasionally pass into her field of vision through the open doors. Even at this distance, Caspar’s exuberance is loud and clear.

“GO PETRAAA! BLACK EA-GLES! BLACK EA-GLES!” chants Caspar.

_“They are laughing.”_

_“Clearly they are easily amused.”_

Content to end on that note, Byleth returns to her grading.

Eventually the shouting stops.

_“It appears that they have collapsed,”_ Sothis says.

Byleth looks up to confirm the information. Sothis is right; two pairs of feet are visible lying on the grass, the door frame concealing the rest of their bodies.

_“It looks like they died.”_

_“No, you ridiculous woman!”_ Sothis turns to face her. _“Evidently they have exhausted themselves and are now recuperating.”_

_“They aren’t moving."_

Sothis’ eyebrows raise. _“Should you not check on them, then? You_ are _expected to act as their guardian while you are here.”_

_“I’m expected to act as their professor. Professors grade work.”_

Sothis’ eyebrows raise even higher, her jaw dropping. She then slaps her hand to her face hard enough for the sound to reverberate through the classroom. It remains there a moment, before she sighs and drifts as close as she can to the downed students.

_“Your childrens’ chests are heaving,”_ she relays.

_“Then they are not dead.”_ Byleth considers for a moment before adding, _“That is good.”_

Sothis returns to hover over the edge of Byleth’s desk and yawns. _“Indeed. Though you’d do well to show more compassion than that in future, or else people might think that your heart does not beat.”_

_“But it doesn’t.”_

_“Ah, of course. My mistake.”_ She yawns again. _“I may have to rest again, soon…”_

Byleth says nothing and continues her work.

_“Do you think that the shoulder riding will catch on?”_ Sothis asks, interrupting the calm. _“It would amuse me greatly if everyone transported themselves around like that.”_

_“It seems inefficient.”_

_“I don’t believe efficiency is the purpose.”_ She yawns. _“If nothing else, I would quite like to see the Hresvelg girl doing it. Perhaps she could employ the services of her butler; a little merriment would do them both well.”_

At that, Byleth shoots to her feet, earning an inquisitive look from Sothis.

The expression is familiar—Byleth recalls it from a conversation they had in which Sothis demonstrated a variety of facial expressions and their meanings. Then it must be Byleth’s turn to act.

She fulfils her role in the procedure by explaining, _“I’m going to ask Edelgard if she wants to try.”_

_“No, you fool, my words were in jest!”_ Sothis moves closer and jabs a finger at Byleth. _“You cannot simply invite a_ princess _to”—_ she falters, her hands waving erratically— _“to_ monkey _around with you!”_

Byleth tilts her head to the side. _“Why not?”_

Sothis gawps at her, before taking her own face in both hands and groaning past them. _“Whatever shall I do with you…”_

Byleth waits a moment to see if she might continue before asking, _“So can I see Edelgard now?”_

_“No! You shall return to your grading while I take a nap. It is as you stated before: ‘Professors grade work’, no?”_

_“Rhea told me to bond with the students too though.”_

Sothis’ face contorts. _“Buffoon! Nincompoop! Insufferable twit!”_ She punctuates her words by stomping her foot in the air. _“Return to your work immediately; I shall baby you no further!”_

Restless for reasons she can’t quite grasp, Byleth gives in and returns to her seat.

Sothis yawns again before reaffirming, _“I’ve no choice now but to rest; your tomfoolery has exhausted me.”_ Another yawn. _“Do_ not _drag the princess into your nonsense while I sleep. Have we an understanding?”_

Byleth nods. _“I understand.”_

Sothis gives a decisive _“Hmph!”_ before vanishing into the air.

And Byleth sets out in search of Edelgard.

* * *

“Edelgard.”

She turns from the railing and the view of mountains, and meets Byleth’s gaze. “My teacher,” she begins, her face lighting up in a wide smile. “May I help you?”

“Would you like to ride on my shoulders?”

Edelgard’s smile drops as she blurts, “What?”

Sothis mentioned that short responses of that variety are often requests for more information. 

“I saw Petra carrying Caspar around.” 

An adequate explanation, surely.

But Edelgard just stares.

Sothis did not demonstrate this expression to Byleth. She tilts her head to the side and raises one hand by her face, her brow furrowed as she attempts to comprehend the situation. Maybe her explanation wasn’t quite adequate enough.

Before she can decide on her next move, however, Edelgard says, “I…see. How exactly does this relate to me, my teacher?”

Byleth looks away and considers. How _does_ it relate to Edelgard, exactly?Sothis checked on Caspar and Petra. Byleth’s heart didn’t beat. Sothis was falling asleep. And then…?

Ah.

Her gaze returns to Edelgard. “They looked like they were having fun,” she explains—pleased to have cleared away the misunderstanding.

But Edelgard just raises an eyebrow.

Oh. That expression is not one of the good ones. No, that must have been a misstep.

Correcting her blunder, Byleth backpedals, “No, what I mean to say is, they weren’t having fun.”

Edelgard squints, her brow furrowing and her mouth parting.

Maybe silence is the best course of action here. Edelgard is smart. She will see what Byleth is trying to communicate.

…Yet Edelgard says nothing.

So Byleth says nothing right back.

Edelgard stares. Her eyes narrow.

And still, Byleth waits. Byleth is good at waiting.

It feels like minutes have passed before Edelgard finally says, “Professor. I can’t help but feel that I am not understanding your intent here. You saw Caspar riding on Petra’s shoulders, is that correct?”

In an effort to avoid causing more problems with her words, Byleth simply nods.

“You say it looked like they were having fun. Yes?”

Byleth nods again.

“And you came to me.”

Another nod.

She shifts her weight. “Are you trying to say that I don’t know how to have fun?”

“No.” 

That’s not it. 

“I came to you because…” 

How to put it, exactly? 

“I wanted you to be happy.”

Edelgard’s eyes widen, her cheeks tinging with pink. “Oh.”

That’s a much better response. Clearly that was a step in the right direction. But the statement wasn’t quite accurate.

“I still want you to be happy.”

Hm. Is that enough?

“I want to see you smile.”

Yes. That sounds right.

Edelgard’s gentle blush erupts into a blazing scarlet. “I—ah, I see. My teacher.”

“Are you well, Edelgard? Flushing that much is often a symptom of a fever.” Byleth closes the distance between them and places a hand on Edelgard’s forehead.

She doesn’t seem feverish. How odd.

Edelgard looks up and meets Byleth’s eyes; her face is now coloured a deep, dark crimson. Fever or not, her voice is steady as she says, “If you would like to spend some time with me, might I suggest we go for a walk around the monastery grounds? Or we could look out over the mountains together?”

The ideas make Byleth feel fuzzy inside. “That sounds nice.” Her flat voice does not reflect the way her insides feel.

She retracts her hand, walks around to Edelgard’s right, and leans on the railing.

A long moment passes before Edelgard joins her—she turns around to face the railing, and rests her hands on it, too. When Byleth glances over, Edelgard is no longer blushing.

They stand without speaking for a time. Birds fly overhead. Dogs bark, nearer to the heart of the monastery.

The mountains they face towards stand tall.

Motionless. 

Brown.

…Mountainous.

Eventually, Edelgard says, “Have you ever felt a sort of…longing? For the outdoors?”

Byleth looks at her and considers. Has she? What does longing for something feel like? No one ever asked her this kind of question before.

Evidently she took too long to answer, since Edelgard continues, “I have. The warmth of the sun, a sweet breeze on my face; at times I need these things like I need air…”

Her words trail off. The expression on her face is one of the ones Byleth now recognises—one of the few Sothis thought important enough to name.

Edelgard looks sad.

The look triggers a memory in Byleth. Or, rather, a collection of errant fragments of memories. From before she came to the monastery, during the time she worked with her Dad. The people she worked with—the band of mercenaries. When one looked—sad, as it is called—the other mercenaries would hold them. Touch them. A hand on a shoulder, arms around waists—physical contact of whatever variety. The sad mercenary would often look less so after.

Though Byleth can’t remember a time she herself had been held like that by anyone other than her Dad.

It doesn’t matter. What matters is that Edelgard is sad, and that Byleth may be able to change that.

Byleth looks down at the railing. Edelgard’s hands are both resting on it—her right sits close to Byleth’s left.

Byleth looks back up at Edelgard’s face. Still sad.

Byleth looks back down at Edelgard’s hand. Still sitting on the railing.

She reviews each piece of information in her mind, and how they fit together—

Ah. A solution has presented itself.

Byleth moves her hand to rest on Edelgard’s.

She tenses, and whips her face around to look at Byleth. Her expression is no longer sad; now she looks…shocked, was it called? 

Perhaps Byleth miscalculated. She begins retracting her hand and says, “I thought it might help.”

“Don’t!” Edelgard barks, grabbing Byleth’s hand with her left, only to move it back to cover her right. Now she is blushing again. “Rather. What I mean to say is, it’s okay. It’s nice. Thank you—my teacher.”

Their hands—Byleth’s now sandwiched between both of Edelgard’s—move back to the railing, where they rest.

Byleth watches as Edelgard looks back out over the mountains. She doesn’t look sad anymore. Nor does she look shocked. And she’s still blushing, but now she’s smiling too.

Byleth also returns her gaze to the mountains.

Edelgard’s hands are warm. The thought makes Byleth’s chest feel warm, too.

Being with Edelgard is nice.

**Author's Note:**

> they made a handwich ehehehehehe
> 
> thanks so much for reading, and i hope you have a good day!


End file.
